Please recommend a wireless lav system

[Harry Bromley-Davenport]

I need a wireless mike system - perhaps starting with two mikes, transmitters and receivers. I know that all the best ones are incredibly expensive.

However, I have to believe that someone on this board has had a good experience with one of the lower cost systems.

Advice appreciated.

Harry

[Don Bloom]

See my answer in your other post. Please don't cross post for that reason plus you'll get more responses if you post only in the right forum. This is an audio issue not a camera issue.

Thanks

[Harry Bromley-Davenport]

Dear Mr. Bloom.

Thank you for your response in which you instruct me not to "double post".

You venture to add that this is "an audio issue not a camera issue" which, strictly speaking, is untrue.

I posted a question about radio mike systems on this, the XL-H board, because I use an XLH1 and wanted a response specifically from XLH1 users who could advise me on their personal experiences with regard to quality and compatibility issues with the XLH1.

You have chosen to (a) disregard my question and (b) instruct me to post my question on the "sound" board. You then respond to my query on the "sound" board by imperiously telling me that I should do a search because this question had been covered before.

I put it to you that you have neither answered my query, nor have you acted in the true spirit of these kinds of boards which is to be generous and kind in responses, not judgmental, haughty and dictatorial.

I imagine that you are a moderator - or perhaps a self appointed policeman on this board.

In either case, you will refrain in future from addressing me as if I were 12 years old.

I asked a reasonable question and there was no need for you to slap me down in a manner which is designed to discourage inquiry and education and to aggrandize yourself.

I don't need this nonsense. I've directed and produced 12 feature films and countless documentaries. I have made my living entirely through the art and business of film my entire adult life. I am 60 years old. I don't take easily to being patronized.

I do hope that Chris Hurd will hear my plea for a more tolerant and, above all, a kinder attitude on your part - be you moderator or otherwise. There are young and inexperienced people populating these boards and it is my opinion that your swatting down a simple question like mine can only serve to discourage inquiry and education.

I find it revealing that you replied to my post a mere 8 minutes after my question was posted. I'm not entirely sure why that piques my curiosity, but it certainly shows that you are waiting to pounce on miscreants like me.

Sincerely,

HBD.

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Hi Harry, you'll find that Chris runs a tight, but very friendly ship...I'm sure he'll not tolerate any nonsense! Although I'm also sure that Don didn't intend to cause any friction and was only asking you not to double post.

On the subject of radio mics I can highly recommend the Sony WRT & WRR systems - both the older Freedom systems and latest updated models. They work with many small clip mics, although I tend to match them with Sony mics, such as the ECM 77, ECM 44 and similar models. They will also allow you to connect up larger microphones such as shotgun mics.

The cheaper Sony EW 112 G2 and UWP models are also good, although for sheer build quality and long-range clean pick-up, I prefer the WRT/WRR systems.

[Harry Bromley-Davenport]

Thanks to all the valuable advice I've received from the good folks on this site, I have come to realize that the best course of action for me is to take the advice of the poster above who suggested using a little digital recorder and a lav.

I am ordering two of these plus two lavs from my good and reliable suppliers Sweetwater Sound who, by the way, always have good deals and, amazingly, actually have TECH SUPPORT FOR EVERY DAMN THING that they sell. Free of charge with no moaning either. My guy there is named Kenny Bergle. I only mention this because I've had such good experiences with these guys for over 20 years. (Not getting freebies from them for saying all this nice stuff)

This solution appeals to me for the obvious reason of expense, but also because I will get direct recording with no possibility of RF interference.

I'll be able to sync up through a conventional clapperboard, but I will also, thrillingly, be able to do so using the fabulous PluralEyes software which will sync up automatically. It's tricky to set up PluralEyes because it's kinda finicky, but once you get the system right it really does work perfectly - well, sorta perfectly.

So here endeth this thread for me.

I will shortly be emptying Tony Davies-Patrick's bank account and sharing the proceeds with all the rest of you as a gesture of thanks.

Best

Harry.

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Don't forget to email the PDF file, Harry.

A good friend Dr Abidabi Goodwill from Kingkasi is also sending me £10-million from his late uncle's Will, although I haven't heard from him since I emailed him all my bank statements and credit card information.

I'm glad that you absorbed and digested all our copious efforts of radio mic advice and came up with a Sanyo palm recorder. Your wisdom even exceeds your bank balance. :)

[Bill Watson]

G'day Harry. I use the Sony UWP-C1 with my XH-A1.
Works for me.

[Mike Smartt]

hey harry. I use 2 Sony UWP-V1 mics. They got FANTASTIC internal compressors (disclaimer, I'm actually a 12 year audio guy). I plug them directly in to the camera though. I record video & audio directly to a hard drive so I get great quality. The only issue with the inputs on the XLH1 is that they are literally left and right (which is kinda freaky when you're wearing headphones, LOL). I thought they might be mono but i didn't think they would literally record to the left and right channels. it's dialogue so I just drop the left/right separation to a single mono track in post.

[Harry Bromley-Davenport]

Hi, Mike.

Thank you so much for all the generous advice and for taking the time to respond to my pathetic cry for help.

Best

Harry.

[Andy Johnson-Laird]

Hi Harry:

I'm using Sennheiser G2 lav mics with my XLH1a's. They come with ME2 omnidirectional microphones, but you can purchase an ME4 cardiod if you really need to. I use "Micro Cat" fur-balls on the ME2s to cut down wind noise. See Remote Audio: Micro-Cat .

The big tip for Senn microphones is to power on the receivers first, set the frequency bank, and then use the scan function to search for a "quiet" frequency. If you do not, then you're likely to get more "glitches" in the audio than you want to deal with. Strange to say, it's not that hard to deal with the glitches in FCP by "dipping" the audio in a clip -- barely noticeable, but it's a pain to have to do (and time consuming in post). Cell phones seem to be the worst offenders, I think, but I could be wrong.

I'm not sure whether other wireless mics have the same scan function, but when I figured out how to scan within a given bank I got much better sound without the glitches.

One good thing I've found is that you can, if you wish (as I do), use more than one receiver on the same frequency as the transmitter to record a single lav mic to more than one camera. I often do a two or three camera shoot with the XLH1a's (having jam synced them with a single remote control to the same timecode) and so it's useful to have the lav mic being recorded to CH1 on two cameras with nat sound from the nose mics on CH2 if you want to do sound-ups during post.

As an alternative I use a Senn SKP2000 plug-on transmitter connected to a Senn 416 shotgun in a Rycode S300 dead cat either hand held, on a mic stand, or on a boom. The problem with lavs being that if you have more than one talent, they all have to have lav mics otherwise the sound levels are very different, so the Senn 416 seems to do a better job with more spread. I have also experimented with the technique of hiding lav mics on the set for MCU but I'm not sure I've figured that out yet....the ME2's are pretty good, but the Senn 416 sounds better to my ears.

Hope this all helps.
Regards
Andy